One Month Left
by Ashton Li
Summary: Ryoma has one month left until his family moves back to America and one month until the third years graduate from high school. In that one month, will Ryoma be able to do everything he wishs to and leave with no regrets? FIN.
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE:**** Welcome~! I'm so glad you stopped by. This is my newest fic. It took me awhile to think up an idea, so I hope you'll like it. I had decided that I needed to start another fic for Prince of Tennis before I finished my fic "The Fallen Prince". Of course, with that being said, this is my newest FujiXRyoma fic (saying it ends with them being together). Before I forget…I do not own these characters or the Prince of Tennis. I just happen to be a crazy writer that has ideas and has urges to make certain characters suffer. I hope you'll enjoy this fic to the very end. If you don't…well, that's ok too~! It's not like I'm going to force you to read it (I'm not that mean!). Anyways, enjoy!**

**One Month Left**

Echizen Ryoma walked down the hall of the high school. It was Friday, and luckily there was no school on Saturday. The 16 year old stopped at the doors that led outside. A sad look fell upon his friend. He had been fighting to hide the sadness deep inside his heart, but he was now at an age when he could realize the feelings he had and what they met. Before leaving this morning for school, he was given the news that his family would once again leave Japan for America. Maybe it was destined for him. Most of his friends were in their last year of high school, so they would be leaving for college. He could only wish for them to stay together forever in the happiness that is the tennis team. That happiness was only a dream. Ryoma couldn't hide above in a bed of clouds and pretend that reality no longer existed. He knew that there was only one month left. One month until he left for America and the third years graduate. In that one month, Ryoma would have to make sure he did everything he could so he could leave behind no regrets.

* * *

"Ochibi!" a cheerful voice chirped from a few feet away. The owner of said voice ran up to Ryoma and grabbed hold of the younger boy.

"Hi, Kikumaru-senpai," Ryoma mumbled. Looking up, he noticed a tall, skinny figure standing in front of him. "Fuji-senpai."

"You don't seem happy to see us," Fuji tilted his head to one side as a crocked smile formed on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"No."

"Girl problems?" Eiji guessed.

"No," Ryoma pulled himself away. "It's nothing."

"Eh? Don't be so shy, Ochibi. If you're having girl problems, we'll help you with them. Oh! Momo would probably be good helping you with girl problems. Lets go talk to him."

"It has nothing to do with girl problems or girls in general!" Ryoma was getting irritated by the older boy's pestering.

"Eiji, if he doesn't want to tell us, lets not push him. It probably has nothing to do with us anyways," Fuji began to walk out the door. "Lets get going."

"Right," Eiji made his way out of the school.

"Fuji-senpai…" Ryoma let out a sigh and tried to gather his thoughts. He managed to come to a conclusion: Fuji was wrong. There was a problem, and it did indeed have to do with him.

* * *

Ryoma walked into his house and was greeted by Karupin. Bending down, he petted the cat letting his cell phone fall out of his pocked. Karupin purred as Ryoma stood up and held onto the phone. He stared at it for a minute. He had received it for his 16th birthday. His father, Nanjiro, thought it would make the boy more popular with others his age. Though, he only had a few numbers in his phone. Those particular numbers being Fuji Syusuke, Kikumaru Eiji, Momoshiro Takeshi, and a few others from different schools. Flipping open the phone he scrolled through his contact list and stopped when he reached Fuji's number.

"I want to go back to being 12. At least I would be able to leave and be too stupid to understand what I'm feeling," he pointed the phone at Karupin. "What should I do?"

"Nya!" Karupin rubbed against Ryoma's leg.

"Yeah, that's probably what Kikumaru-senpai would say too," there was a sarcastic tone to his voice. "Girl problems? What was he thinking?" The cell phone began to ring. Looking at it he pulled it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, Echizen. Sorry to call you like this, but I just wanted to make sure you were ok," Fuji said on the other end.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We were supposed to meet at the tennis courts today, and you're not here. I thought you might be made at me or something. Well, the others are here to of course," Fuji softly giggled. "Maybe I'm just taking things too personally."

"I forgot," he took the older boy's words too seriously.

"Don't mind. Just get here as fast you can."

"I will," Ryoma nodded to himself and closed the phone. "There's only one month until we part ways. I have to make the best of everything. Right, Karupin?"

"Nya!"

"Uh…" he fixed his cap and looked away. "I'll see you later, Karupin!"

**NOTE:**** First, if Ryoma seems slightly OOC, it's on purpose. He's four years older…he's not going to be the exact same as he was when he was 12. If you don't like how I made his character…um…I'm sorry? I don't know how often I'll update this story. Until "The Fallen Prince" is finished, I will probably just update when I feel like it. Once "The Fallen Prince" is finished, I will probably update every 1-3 days. Of course, it depends on how busy I get (I have other fics to work on as well as original stories I write…as well as my new Nintento DS. The DS is most likely going to be the thing that distracts me the most…). **

**Back on subject, I actually like how Ryoma acts in this fic. He still plays tennis, he still has his hat, he talks to Karupin, he understands things better, and he's as cocky as ever. Of course, I've always had Ryoma being his normal 12 year old self that doesn't understand certain…feelings. This is going to be interesting now that I have an older Ryoma I'm dealing with. Oh, oh, oh! Everyone understands why I wrote something about "luckily there was no school Saturday". Right? I'm too lazy to explain it here, so if you don't understand that, you can just ask me. Lets just say I try to keep things as close to how they would be in the Japanese school system (That sentence was poorly written…sorry.).**

**Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter. If you did, please do come back and read the next chapters once there is more. If this is your first time reading one of my fics, thank you so much for taking the time to read one of my fics. It means a lot to me. If you're someone who has read one of my other fics, thank you so much for coming and reading another one of my fics. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing a good job. Thank you~!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ryoma walked quickly down the sidewalk and into the tennis court area. He was greeted by Momoshiro and Eiji with hugs.

"You made it, Ochibi!" Eiji giggled as he pulled at the younger boy's cheek.

Ryoma pulled away. "It hurts."

"As sensitive as ever," Momo laughed along with Eiji.

"Kikumaru-senpai, Momo-senpai…you two are weird. Lets have a match already."

"Well, there's a problem, Echizen. There's only one court…so we decided to play doubles," Momo informed the younger boy.

"What?" he dropped his bag on the ground. Ever since that time back in junior high when he played doubles with Momo, he decided to never play doubles again.

"Echizen!" Fuji called for him. "Why don't you play doubles with me?"

"Yay, yay, yay!" Eiji bounced his way over to Oishi. "Play against us~!"

"I don't want to," Ryoma mumbled.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Fuji smiled as he pulled Ryoma towards the court.

"But―!" Ryoma stopped himself from arguing. Though he didn't like playing doubles, this might be the only chance he would get to play alongside Fuji.

"One set match! Oishi to serve!" Momo called out.

"Lets do this, Oishi," Eiji positioned himself close to the net.

As Oishi served, Ryoma watched Fuji gracefully hit the ball back. Eiji wouldn't dare let the tennis ball get by him, so using his acrobatic play, he returned the ball. Ryoma saw the ball fly quickly pass him. He couldn't even move. He was still mesmerized by Fuji's movement.

"Sorry," Ryoma looked away and adjusted his hat.

"It's ok. We still have time to catch up," Fuji reassured him.

"I think I'd rather just watch today," he sat down on the bench.

"Echizen, you can't just quit in the middle of a match," Tezuka told the boy.

"I obviously can!" Ryoma didn't mean for his words to come out that way.

"Ochibi! You're so mean! What's your problem today?" Eiji whined.

"It's nothing."

"Is it about us third years graduating in a month?" Oishi wondered.

"That doesn't even matter anymore," Ryoma folded his arms. "It's not like I'm even going to be here afterwards."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Momo quickly turned to the younger boy.

"It's nothing."

Fuji sat next to the younger boy. "If it was nothing, Echizen, you wouldn't be affected by it like you are. I won't push you to tell us anything, but you don't need to hide anything from us either."

"Oh, is this the girl problems Eiji-senpai was talking about?" Momo patted Ryoma on the head. "If you need any help with girls, I'm here to help."

"It has nothing to do with girls," Ryoma's voice showed how annoyed he was getting. "The day the third years graduate is the day I'll be leaving."

"Leaving?"

"I'm moving back to America."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Oishi frowned.

"I just found out today. I wanted to pretend as if I didn't hear it. I wanted to pretend that we could continue to go on forever in the happiness of our friendship. I was being childish."

"Just because you're moving or we're graduating won't change a thing. We'll continue to be friends no matter what. No matter the distance, we'll stay together," Fuji let his eyes open to show there icy blue color. "Echizen, don't ever think differently. As long as you want to continue to be friends, nothing will stop us from being friends. Do you understand?"

Ryoma nodded and focused on the ground. "Fuji-senpai…thank you."

"Hey! That's true about all of us, Ochibi," Eiji pouted.

"Right," he stood up. "I'd rather not play doubles though. It's not really my thing."

"Ok, then we'll go eat instead!" Momoshiro decided. "Tezuka can pay."

"Fine," Tezuka had a solemn look.

"Eh? Really? Awesome!" Momoshiro ran down out of the court.

"Wait up!" Eiji chased after him.

"Momoshiro! Eiji! Hold on!" Oishi tried to call after them. "Those two…"

Tezuka didn't even bother to say anything. He just walked out of the court and made his way down the sidewalk. Oishi quickly followed behind.

"Those guys…" Fuji shook his head. "Echizen, shall we go?"

Ryoma grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "You know, senpai, you were wrong before."

"What do you mean?"

"The problem does have to do with you, but I'd rather not talk about that right now."

"I see. Well, I'm here to listen when you're ready."

"I know," Ryoma looked up to the sky. "I don't know how long it will take me to be ready to tell you though. I hope you'll be willing to wait a long time, Fuji-senpai."

"For you, I'll wait forever," Fuji grabbed Ryoma's wrist and dragged him down the sidewalk. "Lets catch up to the others."

Ryoma nodded as his cheeks began to change to a red shade. He would usually be annoyed by being dragged like this, but not this time. He wanted to remember the warmth of Fuji's touch. He wanted all the memories of Fuji etched into his heart forever.

**NOTE:**** And…that was chapter two. Kaidoh, Inui, and Kawamura haven't made an appearance yet, but I'm sure they will seeming that Inui and Kawamura are third years and will be graduating. I might even end up bringing Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo into this fic. I'm not that sure though. We'll just have to wait and see.**

**Anyways, I really don't have much to say. I think I'm finally caught up in updating all my fics. It's a lot easier with only three that I need to work on instead of four. It'll get even easier once I'm down to two. Of course, knowing me, I'll end up throwing out another fic before I only have two left. I'm still debating on what pairing I want to go with next. I have long fics for FujiXEiji and FujiXRyoma. I think I should do a different pairing for once. I just need to have the ability to go longer that a few paragraphs with it. I want it to be another long fic. Think, think, think. I'm not sure. It's obvious that there are pairings I won't do at all but…I just don't know. I'll have to keep thinking about it. Once I figure something out, you guys know I will throw another fic out. It's just how I am.**

**Well, thank you for reading this chapter. I hope that you'll continue to read it. As it continues, I will probably get more attached to this fic seeming that I kind of understand what Ryoma's going through (I guess it's always good when you can connect to the characters…). Enough of that. I'm going to continue to listen to music from the Prince of Tennis (I love the song "Takaramono" which is sung by Kikumaru Eiji's seiyuu. It's…very…um…lets go with beautiful~!) and do other random things. Thank you for reading~!**


	3. Chapter 3

On Saturday, Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo stood outside of Ryoma's house. Kachiro lightly tapped on the door while Horio called Ryoma's last name.

"Echizen!" Horio continued to yell.

"Oi! Oi!" Echizen Nanjiro opened the door. "You kids sure are noisy."

"Sorry!" Katsuo and Kachiro quickly bowed.

"We're looking for Echizen Ryoma," Horio walked up to the older man. "Is he home?"

"Ryoma? The kid's in the back," Nanjiro pointed his thumb towards the back of the house.

Horio walked away while the other two boys thanked him and followed behind.

"Kids have no respect these days," Nanjiro shook his head. "What am I saying? Look at my own child!"

* * *

"Echizen!" Horio began to call again as they walked into the backyard.

"Hey," Ryoma caught the ball he was bouncing in his left hand. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Don't you remember? All of us are going to hang out today!"

"Oh, right."

"Ryoma-kun, is something wrong?" Kachiro's concern could be seen on his face.

"You know Echizen, he's too busy with tennis to remember our plans," Horio joked.

"That's not it," Ryoma tossed the tennis ball he held to Horio. "How about we play a little tennis? I'll go easy on you."

"Now we know something's wrong with you. You'd never offer to play tennis with me. What's going on?" Horio demanded.

"I guess I can't hide it from you any longer…I have a girlfriend."

"What!?" Kachiro and Katsuo were shocked by what Ryoma had said.

"Liar. The only girl in your life is your mom…and tennis," Horio tossed the ball back to Ryoma.

"Are you saying I'm not capable of having a relationship?" Ryoma began to bounce the ball again.

"Exactly!"

"By the end of this month…"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Echizen?"

"I'll prove to you that I'm capable of liking more than tennis by the end of this month."

"Fine, but if you don't, you have to play against me and lose on purpose."

"Deal."

* * *

Ryoma didn't see any harm in a little bet like this. He needed to confess his feeling towards Fuji sooner or later anyways. Even if he didn't, it wasn't like he could go through with the rest of the bet…he would be gone at the end of the month.

* * *

The weekend had soon passed. As Ryoma woke up in the morning, he greeted Karupin and stared at the calendar on his wall. His room was filled with boxes that he had yet to pack. Seeing them made him feel uneasy.

"It's kind of scary thinking about how quickly the days are passing," Ryoma mumbled to his cat. "I have one goal, Karupin…I have to tell Fuji-senpai how I feel before I move. Even if I tell him and leave; it's better than him not knowing at all."

"Nya!" Karupin rubbed up against the boy's leg.

"At least I know I'll have one friend when we go back to America."

Ryoma put on his school uniform and grabbed his bag. As he ran downstairs, he stared at the table. He grumbled about the food and began to eat. After finishing his meal, he pulled his bag onto his shoulder, put on his shoes, and headed out the door.

* * *

When Ryoma made it outside, he looked around for Momoshiro. The older boy and his bike were no where in sight though.

"Hey," a familiar voice called.

"Huh?" Ryoma looked to the left and noticed Kaidoh standing next to him. "Kaidoh-senpai…"

"I came to pick you up today," Kaidoh stared past Ryoma when he noticed Karupin in the window.

"Uh…what are you staring at?" Ryoma turned to face the same direction. "Are you looking at Karupin?"

"…No…!" Kaidoh quickly turned his attention to the younger boy.

"You should come over and play with Karupin sometime. I think she'd like your company."

Kaidoh slightly began to blush. "What's up with you? Why are you being so friendly?"

"Senpai, I'll be moving at the end of the month…at the same time the third years will be graduating."

"So, that's what's got you. You shouldn't act differently just because you're going to be moving. Everyone would want you to be the same Echizen you always are."

"Have you ever liked someone but was afraid to tell the person?" Ryoma changed the subject.

Again, Kaidoh's cheeks began to turn red from the topic. "I think everyone has gone through that at some point…"

"Thanks, Kaidoh-senpai," Ryoma made his way down the sidewalk.

"I didn't do anything," the older boy followed him. "You're stupid."

"Come over this Saturday. I'll tell Karupin that she'll have a visitor," he ignored what Kaidoh said and continued to walk.

"What? You―" Kaidoh stop himself from fighting. "Fine. You should invite everyone else too."

"I don't know. I might be going out. We'll just have to wait and see," Ryoma smirked. His cocky attitude was starting to annoy his upperclassman, but he still walked next to the younger boy all the way to the school.

**NOTE:**** Yay for chapter three! Ryoma never says Horio, Kachiro, or Katsuo's name. To be honest, I couldn't remember what he calls each of them off the top of my head. I failed at that point. Yeah, they made a little bet. That'll be interesting. Nanjiro (I spelled his name wrong everytime in this chapter. I fixed that though.) also makes his first appearance as well as Kaidoh. I think this is the most Kaidoh has said in any of my fics. He's one of my favorite characters yet he's had some of the smallest roles. I'm sorry Kaidoh!**

**Anyways, I'm not going to rant on about random things. I did notice something though. I have another fic called "The Pressure of Our Love" which also has this one month time span until something "epic" will happen. I never noticed that until I started writing this chapter.**

**Yes, so, this might be my last update for a little bit. I have a job to design a webpage for my sister's work, and her boss wants me to try to get it done in a week. I want to update my other fic with one more chapter and put up my newest fic (that I haven't written yet…) "Somewhere Beyond the Musical Notes" (I wrote the wrong title in one of my other fics I think…I should go change that…). Of course, once I get this job done I will be back up to speed (That's probably a lie.).**

**Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope it was enjoyable. I'm tired though…so this is all I'm doing for the night. Thank you again~!**


	4. Chapter 4

Kaidou and Ryoma walked into the school building. They were both greeted by Eiji who quickly clung to them. Ryoma pulled away while Kaidou slightly blushed and asked for his senpai to let him go.

"Kikumaru-senpai, how can you be so perky in the morning?" Ryoma questioned the older boy.

"About 20 cups of coffee and a few pieces of cake. It wakes a person right up!" Eiji giggled as he pulled at Ryoma's cheek.

"I don't believe you."

"I guess I'm just a morning person," he smiled. "Unlike you, Ochibi." Eiji turned to Kaidou. "Are you are morning person, Kaidou?"

"Sure."

"You should know the answer to that without asking," Inui walked up to the three of them. "Kaidou gets up early to do some morning practice."

"Just because I get up early doesn't mean I like to. I just need to train," Kaidou pointed out.

"Oh, that's right," Ryoma nodded to himself. "Kaidou-senpai, don't you think Kikumaru-senpai would be a good playmate for Karupin?"

"Huh? Well, sure."

"Kikumaru-senpai, you should come over this Saturday. Karupin will enjoy having so many visitors."

"Eh?" Eiji clasped his hands together. "Kaidou's going over to play with your kitty? That's so cute."

"People wouldn't guess, but under Kaidou's mean look is a little boy who can become easily embarrassed and loves animals," Inui fixed his glasses. "This would be a good opportunity for me to collect some data. Echizen, may I also come?"

"Yeah," Ryoma agreed. "I don't know what kind of data you're trying to collect though."

"Echizen, I thought you said you might be going out on Saturday," Kaidou pointed out.

"It'll be fine," he spotted Fuji talking to Tezuka. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ochibi!" Eiji whined. "Why'd he run off like that?"

"He went to talk to Fuji-senpai and Tezuka-senpai," Kaidou placed his hands in his pockets and titled his head to the right.

"Aw! Maybe he liked them more than us."

"Or…it could be something else," Inui continued to watch Ryoma as he began to talk to the two older boys.

* * *

"Good morning, Echizen," Tezuka closed the book he held in his hand.

"Morning," Ryoma mumbled.

"Is something wrong?" Fuji asked.

"No."

Fuji placed his right hand on the younger boy's head and messed with his hair. "You seem a little bit more awake than usual."

"Tezuka-senpai, may I talk to just Fuji-senpai for a few minutes?"

Tezuka rose his right eyebrow and looked down at the boy. "Sure. I'll see you later, Fuji."

"Thank you," he slightly bowed.

"Echizen, it's not like you to shoo someone away like that," Fuji pulled his bag off of his shoulder.

"I know."

"So, what is it that you need to talk about?"

"Kaidou-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, and Inui-senpai are all coming over this Saturday to play with Karupin."

"That sounds like it will be a lot of fun. You and Kaidou do seem to get along better since you entered high school."

"I don't know if I'll be there though."

"What are you talking about?"

"Looking at all the boxes makes me miserable."

"It's not easy having to move."

"Oh! That's right, you used to live somewhere else too. Right, senpai?"

"Yes, but it wasn't like I moved to a different country. That's why I find it understandable that you don't like the sight of boxes or the thought of leaving."

"Fuji-senpai, will you do me a favor?"

"Hmm? Sure, what is it, Echizen?"

"This Saturday, will you go out with me so I won't be stuck looking at all the boxes?"

A smile formed on Fuji face. "It's a date."

"Thank you, senpai," Ryoma's cheeks glowed with a very light shade of red. The bell to signal classes were going to start rang. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ah, ok," Fuji softly laughed as he watched Ryoma trot down the hall to his classroom. "I wonder, Echizen, why you would pick me out of all people." He placed his bag back on his shoulder and let his eyes open to reveal their icy blue color. "Not that I mind."

**NOTE:**** It's been awhile since I've updated. I'm sorry about that. I've been busy making this website layout for my sister's boss…and by the time I stopped working for the day, I was so tired that I didn't even want to do anything else. Again, I am very sorry.**

**Anyways, I think I like the way I made this chapter. I'm not sure yet. I know, it may seem short, but I don't like writing these really long chapters. I hope that you liked this chapter. Inui made an appearance. Kawamura will come in soon too. Oh, and there's a reason to why I didn't want Ryoma at the house when everyone comes on Saturday. I won't tell you…you just have to wait and see. Also, I know that Ryoma and everyone usually calls Tezuka "Tezuka-buchou". They don't do that in this story because Tezuka is no longer the captain for the tennis team (either that or the others aren't on the team.). Yeah, so, now he's just "Tezuka-senpai". I also realize that I changed the way I spell Kaidou. I will change it in the other chapters later on.**

**Oh, I remembered the other idea that I had for a FujiXRyoma story. I'll probably start that after I finish this fic. It'll be another one of my crazy, random stories. You'll just have to wait for it though.**

**Well, I'm not going to sit and type anymore. I have to go eat dinner. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed. Also, thank you for the reviews and everything so far. It means a lot to me~!**


	5. Chapter 5

Fuji sat in his desk and tapped his pencil in the air. He stared at the board as the teacher went on about the lesson. On his right side, Tezuka jotted down notes. On the left side, Kawamura nodded as the teacher talked and wrote on a piece of paper.

"Are you ok, Fuji?" Kawamura questioned.

"What makes you ask that?"

"You're not taking any notes, and you keep playing with your pencil."

Fuji turned his focus to his pencil. He placed it on his desk. "I'm fine Taka-san."

"I was talking to Oishi before class started. He told me that Echizen is moving at the end of the month…the same time we graduate."

"Ah, yes…it's sad knowing that Echizen will be leaving."

"We won't be able to see him off, will we?"

"I never thought about that."

"You care a lot about him, don't you, Fuji?"

"He's my friend and an old teammate, of course I care about him."

"It seems that your feelings are stronger than that between two friends."

"What do you mean?"

"They just seem―"

"You two are going to get in trouble if you keep talking," Tezuka firmly looked at them.

"Right," Kawamura smiled and began to take notes again.

"Fuji, lets talk during lunch."

"Sure," Fuji smiled and picked up his pencil. He went back to staring at the board.

* * *

Ryoma was seeming to have the same problem Fuji was having trying to concentrate. No matter how hard he tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, he couldn't. Fuji's words echoed in Ryoma's mind. He wondered what Fuji exactly meant by "it's a date". Thinking about going out on a real date with Fuji almost made Ryoma too happy.

"Hey, Echizen, what are you thinking about?" Horio poked the boy's right shoulder.

"Nothing," Ryoma looked over at Horio.

"You have to be thinking about something…especially because you have this real serious look painted on your face."

"I might win our little bet sooner than I thought."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

Ryoma didn't reply. He just played with his pencil.

"Hey, don't ignore me. Do you have a date or something?" Horio questioned.

"Something like that," Ryoma smiled.

"You're lying! With who?"

"It's a secret."

"So, it is a lie. You don't have a date."

"I do."

"Then, tell me who it is. Is she in our class?"

"No."

"Older or younger?"

"Older."

"What year?"

"Third year."

"Oh, so you like older women. I never knew that, Echizen."

"Who said the person was a woman?"

"Eh? Wait…you mean you have a date with another boy?" Horio was shocked. "I didn't know you liked guys!"

Everyone turned and looked at the two boys. Ryoma quickly began to scribble in his notebook. He tried his hardest not to sink into his desk from embarrassment.

"Please, stop talking during my lesson," the teacher mumbled and continued to write on the board.

"Remind me not to tell you anything anymore," Ryoma shook his head at Horio and then went back to writing.

* * *

Tezuka and Fuji walked out of their classroom. It was finally lunchtime, so Tezuka decided to take this opportunity to talk to the boy. They stood in the hallway. Tezuka stared down at Fuji who just smiled.

"Is Echizen ok?" Tezuka questioned.

"Ah, I see! Tezuka, you really are a big softy," Fuji giggled. "You're worried about Echizen. That's cute."

"He just didn't seem himself this morning."

"Don't worry, Echizen should be fine. He's just a little upset about moving. After making so many friends, it's hard to move to a new place. He invited a few people over this Saturday."

"Are you going to his house?"

"Well, he won't be home."

"What do you mean?"

"Echizen really dislikes the sight of the boxes all over his house. He wanted to get away from them for the day. Even though he invited a few people over…he wanted to get away Saturday."

"He decided to invite people over yet he won't be there. That isn't something he should be doing."

"Yes, but it's somewhat my fault as well."

"Why do you say that?"

"If I had rejected him, then he would have been stuck at home."

"So, he asked you to get him out of the house for the day?"

"Yeah. I couldn't say no to him. A sad face just doesn't suit Echizen."

"Fuji, a sad face doesn't suit you either."

"Hmm?"

"You're not taking the news about Echizen well. You can tell by your speech and the look on your face."

"…Tezuka…"

"I guess I understand why you're like this. You always did have strong feelings towards Echizen."

"It really is hard to hide things from you."

"He seems to think highly of you, Fuji. Maybe you should tell him how you feel."

Fuji looked at the floor. "It's too late. I've waited too long. He'll be gone soon anyways."

"Don't you think it's better to tell him how you feel anyways? It will hurt you more if you don't tell him what's hidden deep inside your heart before he goes."

"You're right."

"Come on," Tezuka placed his hand on Fuji's shoulder. "Lets go find Oishi and eat lunch."

"Right," Fuji's normal smile formed on his face. "You know, you're a very good friend, Tezuka."

**NOTE:**** Chapter 5 is finally finished! I know, it took me forever. I've been having a real hard writing lately. I don't know why. But, I pushed myself until the very end to finish this chapter. I was going to add a scene at the end where it was Momoshiro and Kaidou talking, but I decided against it. If I use it, I will probably put it in the next chapter.**

**I think this is the first time in one of my fics I gave Tezuka a lot of dialogue. I usually just give him a couple lines and go focus on a different character. Tezuka is just really hard for me to write for. I fear that I'll get his personality wrong (Hmm…like in another fic I'm working on…where I totally made Tezuka the bad guy…). I have to get over my fear of messing up their personalities because I'm trying to give everyone a nice part in this fic. I think I've brought in all the characters I want to. Yeah, I did. I'm not going to bring anyone from the other schools…and I don't ever have the females from the series in my fics (Though, I might one day use them for something…maybe…probably not. They annoy me. Well, I can handle An.).**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I was originally going to skip from where Fuji, Tezuka, and Kawamura are in class to lunch, but I wanted to put in a scene with Ryoma and Horio. **

**So, I think this is all I'll do for tonight. I still have to update "The Pressure of Our Love". I also need to finish the first chapter for "Somewhere Beyond the Musical Notes" as well as start on "Senpai is My Lover" (the sequel to the first PoT fic I posted here). Ah, I'm rambling though…it's because I'm tired (It's almost 4 in the morning…I need to stop staying up so late.)**

**Thank you for reading. I hope this is interesting enough to keep people continuing to read (I know that it's not the same as "The Fallen Prince", but I don't think I'll be able to write something like that again. It was probably a one time thing. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out what people like so much about it.). I will try to not take so long to update. Sorry about the delay. Thank you, again~!**


	6. Chapter 6

The next school day, Ryoma stared up at the building. It would only be for a little longer that he'd walk through those doors. His heart ached just thinking about it. Though, he new Kaidou was right. He couldn't act any differently just because of moving. He didn't want people to remember him as a sulking kid.

"Got to pull myself together…" Ryoma mumbled to himself.

"Echizen, when were you planning on telling me?" Inui stood behind the shorter boy.

"Tell you? What are you talking about?"

"Moving."

"Ah, well," he quickly turned around and looked up at the older boy. "Inui-senpai, I want everyone to have happy memories of me, so I can't sulk about this. Thanks to Kaidou-senpai, I understand that now."

"It's not like we won't be able to see each other again. Even though us third years will be moving onto college doesn't mean we won't take the time to come say hello."

"It'll be hard."

"Don't think so negatively about this."

"It will be though…seeming that I'll be in America…"

"I see. Kaidou didn't mention that."

"I don't think he knows."

"Don't you think it would be best if everyone knew where you were moving? It would be better than you just disappearing one day."

"I'm…not sure…"

"It's up to you, Echizen. I just don't want you to regret any decisions you make."

Hey, senpai, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"What would you do if you liked someone but was too afraid to tell them?"

"Hmm…I would use the data I have collected on them to see which way would be the easiest to approach them."

"That's not very helpful."

"Why, do you have someone you like?"

Ryoma's cheeks began to change to a light red color. He turned away and noticed Momoshiro. "I'll talk to you later, Inui-senpai."

"Interesting," Inui smiled as he pulled out his green notebook. "This will be good data."

* * *

"Hey, Echizen, why'd you leave before I got to your house?" Momoshiro demanded.

"Hn? Sorry, Momo-senpai. I needed to do something thinking," Ryoma explained.

"Oh! I heard that you invited some people over to your house this Saturday. Why didn't you invite me?"

"You can come too."

"Then again…I was also told by Eiji-senpai that you won't even be there."

"Yeah, I'm going out for a little bit."

"With Fuji-senpai, right?"

The younger boy looked off to the side. "How'd you know?"

"Well, I was talking to Eiji-senpai, and he was saying how he was going over to your house on Saturday along with Kaidou and Inui-senpai. I asked if the others were going as well. Eiji-senpai then told me that he knew Fuji-senpai wouldn't be there because he has a date. He also said that you wouldn't be there. When I asked why, he told me that the two of you were going out. I don't really know what it all meant. It was kind of confusing because Eiji-senpai was just going on and on."

"Kind of like you."

"What?!"

"I was the one that asked Fuji-senpai to go out with me this Saturday. I knew he would understand why I didn't want to be at my house. I never asked him to go out on a date with me…he's the one that said it was a date."

"Wah! So it is a date!"

"I never said that!" Ryoma clasped his hands onto Momo's mouth. "Please lower your voice."

"Date…it's a date," he mumbled through Ryoma's hands.

Ryoma began to blush again. He quickly pulled away from the older boy and ran off. "Stupid senpai!"

"Echizen has a little crush. It's so cute when he gets all embarrassed like that. Fuji-senpai is so lucky," Momoshiro laughed as he headed into the school building.

* * *

Tezuka and Fuji stood in the hallway talking about the homework from last night. The atmosphere was calm around them until one particular red head came running down the hall towards them.

"Fuji~!"

"Good morning, Eiji," Fuji smiled.

"Does Tezuka know? Did you tell him? Is what you said last night really true? Are you two going out? Is it official? When did this all happen?" Eiji's questions came out so fast they could barely be understood.

Fuji giggled. "Eiji, you're so nosy. "Tezuka knows what's going on this Saturday. I told him yesterday during lunch. Echizen and I are going out on a date this Saturday. We're just going out to make Echizen feel a little better. As for when this happened…yesterday morning."

"Wow! Fuji and Ochibi! Who would have seen that coming?"

"If I knew you were going to go this far with all of this, I would have never told you. Please keep this information to yourself."

"But―"

"Class is going to start soon," Tezuka flipped through the papers in his hands. "We should get going, Fuji."

"Of course, Tezuka," Fuji smiled and walked off with the taller boy.

"Fuji!" Eiji whined. "Things are looking interesting."

**NOTE:**** Yeah, it's a short chapter. I know, I know. Sorry. Next chapter should be where Echizen has all his guests over and his "date" with Fuji.**

**I'm really sorry about how long it's been taking me to update lately. I've been working on a Prince of Tennis website (along with a forum). The website is mainly to advertise the game I'm in the process of making, but it's also to let people read doujinshi and other things (If you want to check out the website, the link is my homepage in my profile.). Yeah, so I've been working on the art for the game and the script for it as well.**

**Though, I've finished the website for the time. I will focus on my fics for a little bit. I'm trying to decide what fic to start next (that's why I have the poll in my profile). Also, once this fic is finished, I have my new FujiXRyoma fic started. I know it's early, but I had to start it when I came up with the idea. When it comes to FujiXRyoma and FujiXEiji fics, my fics usually revolve around Ryoma or Eiji. I make them suffer terribly because I'm not a nice person. Well, for my new FujiXRyoma fic, Fuji is the one that the story is revolving around. It won't be posted until I'm closer to the end of this fic though. The title for it is "Without Sight". If you really want to know more about it, head over to my profile. Details about all the fics I have planned can be found towards the bottom of the page.**

**Anyways, I've rambled on enough about that. I need to update "The Pressure of our Love" and "Somewhere Beyond the Musical Notes". I might do that later on tonight though. I might have to cook dinner. I'm not sure though. I have to figure out what's going on. This must be really odd to read when this chapter has been posted for awhile. I never really thought about that. It doesn't matter though. Maybe I can confuse people. It's always fun to confuse people.**

**Enough! I will stop now. I've said more than enough. Thank you for reading this chapter. I will try to get back on a better update schedule. I'm so slow. Thanks, again, for reading. I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter~!**


	7. Chapter 7

The weekend had soon came. Inui, Kaidou, Eiji, and Momoshiro stood at Ryoma's door. Eiji was the one who finally decided to knock.

"Eh?" Nanjiro opened the door and stared at the four kids. "You must be the four that Ryoma said were coming over. He's upstairs getting ready to go out," he moved out of the way. "Come in."

"Thank you," they slightly bowed and entered the house.

"Nya?" Karupin rubbed up against Kaidou's leg.

"Kitty," he mumbled as he reached down to pet the cat.

Momoshiro looked around at the boxes. "So he wasn't lying. Echizen really is moving."

"I was hoping he was just joking," Eiji turned his attention to Nanjiro. "What made you decide to move like this?"

"Ryoma didn't tell you the reason?" Nanjiro tried to scoot his way into the kitchen.

"He didn't tell us anything other than he was moving to America at the end of this month," Inui said as he took out his notebook and wrote down things about Kaidou.

"America?" Kaidou stood up and looked at the older boy. "Is he really moving to America, Inui-senpai?"

"Why all the way to America?" Momoshiro's voice became demanding.

"There's better opportunities for him in America. If he wants to become better at tennis, the place for him is where I will be taking him. It will be hard for him at first, but I just want what's best for my son," Nanjiro left the room.

Ryoma made his way down the stairs as knocking came from the door. "Maybe he just wants me to continue where he left off."

"Echizen…" Kaidou picked up the cat and looked at the younger boy.

"Please take care of Karupin while I'm out," he opened the door to see Fuji smiling down at him.

"Are you ready?" Fuji peered into the house. Seeing the mess of boxes and newspaper made him not even want to look in anymore.

"Of course," Ryoma slightly waved his hand as he left the house. The door closed behind him with a slam.

"He didn't even greet us," Momoshiro let himself fall to the floor.

"Ochibi must like Fuji more than all of us," Eiji pouted. "That's why he's going out on a date instead of spending time with us."

"Date?" Inui moved closer as he jotted down things in his notebook.

"That's what Fuji said. They're going out."

"Echizen said he's the one who asked Fuji-senpai out, but Fuji-senpai's the one that said it's a date," Momoshiro explained.

Kaidou continued to hold Karupin. "It's Echizen's choice."

"What do you mean, Kaidou?" Inui wondered as his writing became more like scribbles.

"If Echizen wanted to go out with Fuji-senpai instead of staying here with us, he should be allowed to without us acting like it's a big deal," he put the cat back on the floor. "He asked me last week if I ever liked someone and was too afraid to tell them. I think I understand why he asked me that."

"Ah, so Ochibi really does like Fuji," Eiji grabbed onto Kaidou's arm. "What did you tell him to do?"

"I just told him that I thought everyone feels that way at least once in their life. He then thanked me and invited me over."

"What a weird kid," Momoshiro sighed. "When do you think he'll be back?"

"You can play some tennis outside until Ryoma gets back," Nanjiro came back into the room. "I'll lend you his rackets."

"A few matched will pass the time up quickly," Inui closed his notebook and fixed his glasses.

"Not a bad idea," Eiji agreed as they ran outside.

"Wait up!" Momoshiro stood up and followed them.

"May I talk to you for a second?" Nanjiro stopped Kaidou.

"Sure," he nodded.

"What's your name again?"

"Kaidou…Kaidou Kaoru."

"Kaidou-kun, Karupin seems to like you a lot."

Kaidou's face began to turn red. "I guess."

"Would you like to keep her?" Nanjiro looked down at the cat rubbing her head against Kaidou's leg. "I don't plan on bring Karupin with us when we move. If she goes with you, I know she'll be with a loving person."

"I couldn't."

"Sure you can. Just ask your parents tonight."

"Karupin is Echizen's cat. I think that she should go with Echizen. If she didn't, then he'd be left there in America with no friends at all."

"I see."

"Excuse me," Kaidou bowed and walked away.

"Nya?" Karupin looked up at Nanjiro with curiosity in her eyes.

"I'll just have to find some other family for you to go to."

* * *

Ryoma and Fuji walked down the busy street. They didn't say anything to each other. They just walked along not even knowing where they were going. Then, Ryoma stopped and pulled at the older boy's arm.

"Fuji-senpai, there was a reason I wanted you to come out with me today," Ryoma couldn't get his eyes to focus on the taller boy.

"A reason different from wanting to get out of the house?" Fuji became interested in what he had to say.

"Yes, I want to tell you something…I just don't know how to."

"Really? Well, there's something I need to tell you too."

Ryoma let go of Fuji. "I…"

"Lets tell each other at the same time. Maybe it'll make it easier on both of us."

"Ok…"

They counted to three and said at the same time: "I like you."

Ryoma's cheeks began to heat up. "That is…wait! What did you say?"

"I'm glad this feeling is mutual. It still seems too late though," Fuji looked into the window of the building they stood next to.

"Too late?" the younger boy let his arms drop to his side. "That's right…because I'm moving…"

"Maybe this is what was destined for us all along. Lets make the best of the time we still have. Ok?"

"What do you mean, senpai?"

"There's still three weeks until this month is over. Even if it'll end soon, I want to spend the rest of this month with you."

"I'll make as memories with you as I can until the time comes for us to go separate ways."

"Me too," Fuji let his fingers intertwine with Ryoma's. "Lets go get something to eat."

"Ok, Fuji-senpai."

* * *

"It's getting late," Inui noticed that the sun was beginning to set.

"Ochibi really does like Fuji over all of us," Eiji shook Momoshiro.

"Maybe we should head home," Momoshiro tried to break away from the older boy.

"We'll have to wait until Monday to talk to Echizen," Kaidou began to pick up the tennis balls they had used.

"I guess it's ok as long as they had a good time," Eiji crossed his arms. "Lets get home."

"Yeah," the other three agreed as they left the backyard and headed back inside. Telling Nanjiro that they were leaving, they went their separate ways.

**NOTE:**** The long needed update is finally here! Sorry about how long it took me. I was out of town for a little bit. I didn't have my laptop at that point, so I couldn't do any writing. Anyways, the reason I was out of town was a little more important than my fics. That's weird saying that. I almost always put my fics before everything else.**

**Now, in this chapter we had both Fuji and Ryoma admitting their feelings. I know that we're only 7 chapters into the fic, but there is a reason why it happened so soon. Actually, I have this feeling that this fic is only going to be a couple more chapters longer. I'm not sure. I just hope that everyone is enjoying this fic so far.**

**Well, that's really all I have to say. I will try my best to update like I normally do. No more of this one month stuff. Until the next update, bye bye~!**


	8. Chapter 8

Fuji sat on his bed the following morning. He smiled as he dialed Tezuka's number. Holding the phone to his ear, he fell back letting his head rest on his pillow.

"Hello?"

"Morning, Tezuka."

"Fuji, what is it that you need?" Tezuka questioned. "You don't usually call this early without a reason."

"I wanted to tell you what happened yesterday."

"I'm not the type of person to care about gossip."

Fuji turned onto his stomach and giggled. "I took your advice and told Echizen yesterday. I feel much better knowing that we share the same feelings, but it's still painful thinking that I had waited so long."

"…Fuji…"

"I came up with an idea though. It's the only thing I can think of doing."

"What are you talking about?"

"I want to continue to be with Echizen…even if it means―"

"Are you thinking about throwing away everything you have for you here just to follow Echizen where ever he goes?"

"We'll just have to wait and see, Tezuka."

"Fuji, what are you thinking?"

"Oh, I have to go. I need to do some homework."

"We didn't have any homework."

"Bye-bye, Tezuka," Fuji hung up the phone. He placed his face in his pillow and mumbled something inaudible.

* * *

At the Echizen residence, Ryoma was placing books into a box. He let out a sigh as he continued to pack.

"Ryoma." Nanjiro walked into the boy's room. "We need to talk."

"Did you change your mind? Are we going to stay here instead of moving?" Ryoma didn't even look at his father.

"I don't plan on changing my mind. We're going to be moving back to America."

"Then there's nothing to talk about, right?"

"Karupin will not be coming with us."

The younger boy quickly rose to his feet. "That's not funny."

"I'm being serious, Ryoma."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Ryoma clenched his fists. "If you're so sorry, you wouldn't make us move all the way to America!"

"Ryoma, it's for the best."

"It's not for the best! I have a life here. All of my friends are here, not in America. How can it be for the best if what I want most is here in Japan?"

"You're being naïve. Your tennis skills will never get better if I keep you here forever."

"I don't care about tennis," he turned and looked out the window. "Take away Karupin, take away tennis…I don't care anymore. By taking me away from Japan, you're taking me away from the person I'm reaching."

"Person? What are you talking about?"

"I would never want to tell him the full truth, if I did, then I would hate myself for leaving him."

"…Ryoma…"

He looked back at Nanjiro with tears in his eyes. "I finally found something that's more important to me than tennis, and you just go and rip it away from me. I will never forgive you for that. Never!"

"Keep packing," Nanjiro didn't even blink at the sight of his son crying. There wasn't even a comforting word he would give. He just left the room.

"Maybe I should just runaway…"

* * *

The day continued with Ryoma throwing things into boxes. He was trying his best to keep from screaming out of frustration, but it was getting harder as time went by. Looking up from where he was sitting, he saw the phone. Grabbing it, he dialed the first number that came to him.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end questioned.

"Senpai, what should I do?" Ryoma sat down on his bed. "Everything just seems to get worst."

"Echizen, calm down."

"He's taking away everything, Fuji-senpai. All he cares about is me finishing what he started."

"You're not making any sense. Start over and tell me what's going on," the older boy's voice was soothing on the other end.

"I don't want to leave."

"I know you don't, but this isn't something you can change."

"Did my dad think it was ok just because most of my friends are graduating anyways?"

"That might be a possibility. I honestly don't know what you father is thinking."

"He didn't need to go off and decide that we couldn't take Karupin with us. He says he's doing what's best for me, but I don't know how this is."

"Echizen, even if you don't think this is what's best for you, it might be. In the end, you'll probably have a wonderful life in America."

"I don't want a wonderful life in America. I just want a life with you!"

There was a silence between the two boys. Ryoma's breathing became unsteady.

"Echizen?" Fuji tried to gather all his thoughts but it was futile.

"I'm sorry to have called you like this, senpai. I was only thinking about myself. I guess I'm just worried. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Don't be sorry. If you ever need to talk, I'm here to listen."

"I have a question then."

"I will do my best to answer."

"Fuji-senpai, have you ever been in love?"

"I'm not sure…" Fuji paused for a moment. "Though, I feel as if I have been falling in love with you."

"I―"

"That's why I hope that no matter how far apart we are, we can continue to stay together."

"Me too…I want to stay with you too."

"Are you sure?"

Ryoma fell back onto his bed. "Yeah."

"Echizen, you just keep surprising me."

"I think that's my line."

"If you need anything else, just call me back, ok?"

"Right."

"Until the day you leave for America, lets make the best of you time here."

"Thank you, senpai."

"Don't mind."

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Ok."

"Bye."

"Bye-bye," there was a click from the other end.

"So, is this what people call love?" Ryoma places his phone to the side. "If it is, I think I will like it more than tennis…"

**NOTE:**** First, I would like you all to note that I changed my username. I went from "darkfire202" to "Amira Sukitsu". I like my new name better because it's what I've been using for everything. I hope you guys don't mind the change~!**

**Second, I'm sorry that I've been slow on updating. I don't know what happened. Silly me. I hope this update was worth the wait.**

**Honestly, I had some issues with this chapter. In the end, I'm sort of happy with how it turned out. I really do hope everyone enjoyed it.**

**Anyways, I'm not going to go on and on about random things. I will tell you that I don't think that there will be too many chapters until this fic is finished. I will also say that I will hopefully have another FujiXRyoma fic posted before this is completed ("Without Sight"). **

**Finally, I would like to mention that I changed my profile. I'm still going to move some things around, but it's shorter now. I made a forum thing with all the information about all of my stories. This was to make myself a little more organized. If you want to check it out, the link is in my profile.**

**Thank you so much for reading~!**


	9. Chapter 9

Day after day, Ryoma continued to be surrounded with his friends. They acted as if he wasn't moving. It was like it was all just a dream. Though, Ryoma knew that the smiles would soon fade. The days were melting away into what seemed like only hours. Soon, there would be no more time left. Reality had hit him harder than he wanted.

* * *

"What day is it?" Momoshiro looked over at the boy walking next to him.

"Friday."

"That means there's still three weeks until Echizen moves. Right, Kaidou?"

Kaidou stopped. He let out a 'fshuu' sound and continued down the school's hall. "Try two."

"You're lying!"

"Why would I lie about such a thing?"

This time, Momoshiro stopped. He stared at the door leading out of the building. "I wish that Echizen would just admit that he's scared of moving…that he doesn't want to go."

"Let him do things at his own pace."

* * *

There was one thing that all of them knew about Echizen. It wasn't hard to figure it out. He was completely miserable about his move to America. His heart ached more than anyone could imagine. It was a sad sight for anyone to see…it was even sadder for Ryoma. He never once said how much he was hurting or how he didn't want to leave. No, he just pretended everything was fine. He was trying to hide from the reality that was right in front of his eyes.

* * *

"Ochibi~!" Eiji grabbed the shorter boy from behind. "You're so nice to hug."

"What would you do if I one day hugged you back?" Ryoma questioned as he looked to the side.

"Huh? Well, I'd be shocked!"

The younger boy turned himself around and let his arms wrap around the taller of the two. "You're warm…"

"Are you feeling ok? You're acting strange."

"I have to go," Ryoma pulled away. "I'm meeting Fuji-senpai."

"A date?"

"Kikumaru-senpai, I know you already know what's going on," he ran off.

"He's full of surprises."

* * *

Fuji stood by the tennis court where Ryoma first told everyone that he was moving. He looked up to the sky as the wind pulled through his brown hair. The cool breeze made him shiver as he heard footsteps.

"Am I late, senpai?"

"Hmm?" Fuji looked down at the shorter boy running up to him. A smile formed on his face. "Not at all, Echizen. You're just on time."

Ryoma stared at the ground. "There's only two weeks left until I move."

"You shouldn't count the days. It'll only make you sad."

"Sometimes, I can't help it."

"Don't think about it so much."

"Fuji-senpai, it's hard."

"I know."

"Are we going to do the same as usual today?"

"I thought we could do something else for a change," Fuji grabbed Ryoma's hand. "Come with me."

Fuji pulled the younger boy down the sidewalk. After almost tripping a few times behind him, they finally stopped. Ryoma stood there and stared at the house in front of him. He remembered going there a few times back during junior high. It was usually because Eiji would force him or they were meeting to go somewhere as a group. Yes, the house he saw before him was defiantly the Fuji's residence.

"I have a surprise," Fuji let go of Ryoma and made his way to the door. He quickly opened it. "Ah, no one's home right now."

_Surprise? No one's home?_ Ryoma's mind raced while trying to figure out what his senpai might be thinking. _What kind of surprise does he have?_

The two of them walked into the house. A familiar sound came from below them.

"K-Karupin!" Ryoma picked up the cat.

"I remember you telling me that you wouldn't be able to take her with you. I wanted to make sure that no matter what happens, you'd know that Karupin will be safe," Fuji softly petted the cat's head.

"You're really caring, Fuji-senpai."

"It's the least I can do."

"Thank you," Ryoma leaned forward and barely touched his lips against the older boy's. Quickly, he pulled away as his face turned red. "I probably should get home. Please take care of Karupin."

As Ryoma tried to make his way out the door, Fuji grabbed his wrist. He pulled him closer and kissed Ryoma. As the broke apart, Fuji softly whispered in his ear, "I will."

Ryoma was frozen in place. His thoughts went crazy. He didn't even know what to say. All he wanted to do was run out of the house from embarrassment, but his legs wouldn't allow him.

"Echizen, are you ok?" Fuji questioned.

"Is this what you'd call love?"

"What do you mean?"

"It hurt knowing that I was going to leave in the first place, but it hurts even more now. Knowing that I'll have to leave you…my heart aches just thinking about it."

"It's too early to tell what this might turn into."

"I…I should get home…"

"I'll walk you."

The two of them made their way out of the house. They returned to holding hands and talking about things that were pointless. Things like the first time they played tennis against each other…things like when they won nationals. They just wanted to say anything that would keep them smiling and remember the good things that had happened in their lives. As they finally got to Ryoma's house, their hands parted.

Ryoma smiled up to the older boy. "You know, I like senpai more than tennis." Before Fuji could reply, Ryoma had already ran into the house.

"Really?" Fuji slightly giggled. "Then, maybe this is turning into love."

**NOTE:**** First, I'd like to sincerely apologize for how long it took me to update. I think it's been like a month and one day since I last posted a chapter. I've been so busy it's not even funny. My sister is getting married in about a week, and I'm trying to get the list of music for it done along with a few other things. It's so crazy. To add to that, I just moved. Oh, and I've had the writer's block of a lifetime. It was terrible. I haven't been able to write anything. I disliked it a lot.**

**Anyways, this was chapter 9. I highly doubt this fic will have more than 18 chapters. There's only two weeks left until Ryoma moves, so I can't stretch it out too much more. The next chapter will probably be better than this one. I will try to get it out as soon as I can. I hope everyone liked this chapter. I liked how I started off with Momo and Kaidou in the beginning to let everyone know what day it was and how many weeks are left. Oh, and Fuji now has Karupin. How nice~!**

**I would like to mention something else. In two of the chapters, I have it where Fuji says "don't mind". That's not a mistake. I want him to say that. It's like he's saying "don't worry" but "don't mind" is cuter to me. I just wanted to clear that up. I had continued to forget to mention it, so I decided to do that now.**

**I have some plans do put up a lot more fics, but I won't neglect this one. Of my upcoming fics, I will put out my newest FujiXRyoma fic, "Without Sight" along with others that will be for random couples like KaidouXRyoma, TezukaXKaidou, and a Fuji Family Fic (no incest…). Of course, this probably won't happen until after my sister's wedding. Hmm…I want to write a special fic for my birthday…**

**Ok, enough rambling from me. I talk…erm…type…way too much pointless stuff. Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you can enjoy this fic (and all my fics) as much as I enjoy writing them. Thank you~!**


	10. Chapter 10

The sun rose from the sky letting light into Ryoma's room. He tossed around trying to find Karupin. When he realized the cat was no longer there in the house, he quickly sat up. Looking at the clock that was next to his bed, he noticed that it was barely 7:30 in the morning. Yawning, he got out of bed and stumbled to his dresser. He heard chatter outside his room. Out of confusion, he opened the door.

"Shh! He's going to hear us!" Eiji's voice was almost too loud.

"Kikumaru-senpai?" Ryoma wiped the sleep from his eyes with his right arm. "Am I still dreaming?"

"Huh?" Eiji turned to see the shorter boy. A nervous smile formed on his face. "Morning."

"What is everyone doing here?"

"It's a surprise," Oishi nodded to his own statement. "You should get dressed. We'll be waiting for you."

"Right…" Ryoma closed the door but peeped back out. "Could you at least wait downstairs?"

Everyone laughed as Oishi scooted them towards the stairs.

* * *

As Ryoma walked down the stairs, he noted everyone who stood waiting. There was Kawamura, Oishi, Kikumaru, Tezuka, Momoshiro, and Kaidou. Inui and Fuji weren't any where to be found.

"Were is Fuji-senpai and Inui-senpai?" the young boy's voice was almost demanding.

"It's a secret," Momo giggled.

"Why?"

"We can't tell you if it's a secret."

"Ugh!" Ryoma started to become annoyed at this whole 'surprise'.

"Lets go, they're going to be waiting," Tezuka flicked his wrist to motion everyone that they were leaving.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Ryoma protested.

"Come on," Kaidou grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the house.

* * *

"I sure hope Echizen won't be mad," Fuji stared at a banner that was tied to a fence. "Inui, what do you think?"

"There is a 14 percent chance he will not like this surprise," Inui pushed up his glasses.

"Huh?" Fuji shook his head. "I meant, what do you think about the banner?"

"Oh! I think it was placed nicely."

"Maybe this is going too far."

"Fuji, stop thinking so much. It'll be fine."

"…I don't think you're the one that should tell me that…"

"Here they come. Put on the ribbon," Inui threw a red bow towards Fuji.

"This is silly," he smiled and placed the bow on his head. He sat down on the bench.

Inui watched as the group came closer and closer.

"My surprise is Inui-senpai and the tennis court we play at?" Ryoma mumbled.

"Look up," Kaidou let go of the younger boy. "Surprise."

"We'll miss you…" as soon as he uttered the words, his eyes became teary. He made his way past Kaidou and Momo, but was stopped by Tezuka.

"Don't hold it in," Tezuka held his composure as he placed his hand on top of Echizen's head.

"Where's Fuji-senpai?" the childish rage was building inside of him. "What is this supposed to be? I don't…I―"

"Calm down," the older boy looked up. "Momoshiro, Kaidou, go get him."

"Right!"

"Echizen, don't get so upset. We thought, as a team, that this would be a nice little surprise. We wanted to show that we'll support you no matter how far apart we are."

Ryoma clenched his fist and began to shake. As soon as he felt the tears falling from his eyes, he let his arms pull around Tezuka. The older of the two placed one of his arms behind Echizen making him stop shaking.

"Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Ryoma softly said.

"Cheating on me?" Fuji's voice was playful.

"Uh!" he quickly pushed himself off the older boy. "It's not like that. Tezuka-senpai was just…um…"

"It's cute when you're all flustered."

Ryoma scanned Fuji. "What's with the bow?"

"Inui's idea."

"It's pretty!" Inui yelled from the background.

"Hey, if Ochibi doesn't want to have a party, can we play tennis?" Eiji looked at the tennis courts.

"Tennis sounds like fun," Ryoma let a cocky smile form on his face. "Want to place against me, Kikumaru-senpai?"

"I was thinking of playing some a little easier…"

"Fshuu…" Kaidou held out a racket. "Echizen, play against me. I've been meaning to beat you."

"Mada mada dane!" he took the racket and ran over to the court. "This will be my win."

Kawamura watched as the two of them hit the ball back and forth. "They look like they're having fun."

"Yeah, Echizen quickly bounced back from being sad," Oishi softly laughed. "Maybe Eiji's rubbing off on him."

"This is great! Mamushi is actually putting up a good fight," Momoshiro's head flung left and right trying to keep up with the rally.

A little bit further down, Tezuka sat next to Fuji. Fuji played with the red ribbon almost as if he was avoiding contact with the other boy.

"Fuji," Tezuka looked over at him.

"The weather sure is nice today," Fuji held out the ribbon.

"Fuji."

"I really didn't understand the point to the ribbon."

"Fuji!"

"I really don't want to talk about it, Tezuka."

"Talk about what?"

"The conversation we had on the phone a while ago."

Tezuka crossed his arms. "Seeming that you brought it up, I want to talk about the things you said."

"Did I say I didn't want to talk about it?" Fuji sighed. "You sure have a way with words, Tezuka."

"What do you have planned?"

"Don't worry, I'm still going to a nice university."

"Fuji, don't you think you're making a mistake?"

Fuji stared into Tezuka's dark brown eyes. "If falling in love was a mistake, then I guess I'll continue to make them."

"But is the feeling the same for both of you?" Tezuka became overly stern.

"How will I know if I don't continue to be with him?" he titled his head to the left. "Would you rather me just let him slip right through my fingers?"

"I never said that. I can see I can't change your mind. My support will be here for both you and Echizen. Remember that."

"Thank you," Fuji stood up and looked at Ryoma. He was still going all out against Kaidou. "Come on, Echizen! You can win!"

"Huh?" Ryoma turned to see Fuji. Right as his focus left the tennis match, the ball flew past him.

"That's the win!" Eiji cheered. "Kaidou wins! Kaidou wins!"

"What?" Ryoma was shocked by the result.

"Good game," Kaidou reached out his hand.

"Stupid Fuji-senpai," Ryoma shook the older boy's hand. "At least you can say you beat me…once."

* * *

The day continued on. As the sun finally decided to start setting, everyone made way to their own homes. Fuji had walked with Ryoma to his home. As they reached his door, the older boy smiled.

"Echizen, sorry about you losing."

"It'll give Kaidou-senpai something to boast about for awhile," Ryoma placed his hand on the door. "You should probably get home."

"Is it ok if I kiss you first?" Fuji wondered as his face grew closer to Ryoma's.

"I think you would even if I said no."

Fuji snickered. "You've figured me out."

"Is Karupin doing ok?"

"She's fine. At night, she likes to curl up next to me and sleep."

"Yeah…she does like company while sleeping."

"Are you going to be alright?"

"I think so," Ryoma stared at Fuji's bright blue eyes. "You should remind me one of these days to tell you how I got enough courage to tell you that I like you."

"Why don't you tell me on your flight to America?"

"That's not possible…"

Fuji lightly pressed his lips against Ryoma's. "I'll see you at school." Quickly, Fuji walked off leaving Ryoma confused.

"Senpai is confusing," he shook his head and went into his house.

* * *

Ryoma wished he could tell him Fuji the reason he was able to tell him his feelings on the flight. It was impossible because he would be at his graduation ceremony. The younger boy wanted to watch Fuji graduate. He wanted to congratulate him and give him a hug. All of the dreams he had were impossible because he'd be in America while Fuji stayed in Japan. The pain was growing, and there was no way to make it stop.

* * *

"A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person…" Ryoma held open his dictionary. He was on his back on his bed. "…I love you…Fuji-senpai…"

**NOTE:**** Chapter 10, chapter 10! Yay~! It's taken me forever to get this far.**

**This chapter is a little lame…I will admit it myself. I just feel so bad that I haven't been updating at all. I don't even know what's wrong with me anymore. It's horrible. I hope you could enjoy this chapter. Also, for the last thing Ryoma says, I literally looked the definition up for love. I feel silly.**

**Can anyone figure out what's going to happen? Haha…probably. This fic will be ending soon. Probably two or three more chapters. When that happens, I will probably focus on my other fics until I get my FujiXRyoma/FujiXEiji game all finished (all that's left is the art, yay!). Though, "Without Sight" will be the next FujiXRyoma fic that I'll throw on here. I think once I get enough time, I want to start my KaidouXRyoma fic ("I'm Not Broken"). I don't know though. Maybe I'll work on "Where You Happiness Lies" (TezukaXKaidou) instead.**

**Enough rambling though. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I will try my hardest to get another chapter up soon. I want to write a story with a different school…**

**Okay~! I'm going now. Bye bye~!**


	11. Chapter 11

The days quickly faded away until there was merely one day left until the third years graduated. As each day passed, Ryoma continued to keep his feeling of love towards Fuji locked deep within his heart. For some reason, he found it better if he didn't tell him. It seemed like if he did, saying goodbye would become even harder.

* * *

At the beginning of the second to last day before Ryoma would take him flight out of Japan, he met up with Horio. They stood outside of the school before the first class was to begin.

"Hey, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about, Echizen?" Horio rested his hands behind his head.

"I won our little bet," Echizen pulled at his bag that rested on his shoulder. "Also, I guess I should tell you that I'm leaving for America tomorrow."

"Going on one little date doesn't count as―" Horio quickly shook his head. "What do you mean you're leaving for America?"

"You know…getting on a plane and everything."

"You're lying!"

Ryoma turned away from the boy and noticed the third years walking towards the school. He quickly swung back around. "Believe what you'd like to."

"Ochibi!" Eiji ran up to the younger boy and let his arms hang over him. "I don't want to let you go!"

"Eh? What are you guys doing here?" Horio looked around at all of them. "I thought that you didn't have to come to school today because you're graduating tomorrow."

"We thought it would be nice to come to say goodbye to Echizen," Momoshiro pulled at Ryoma's cheek. "He's not going to here to see us off just like we won't be able to see him off…so this is just the right thing to do."

"Don't talk like that!" Eiji whined and his grip grew tighter around Ryoma. "He can't leave us!"

"So you weren't lying about going to America," Horio crossed his arms. "Then who's this person you like more than tennis?"

Simultaneously, Ryoma pointed at Fuji as the older boy raised his arm into the air. Horio looked back and forth between the two and nearly fell over from shock.

"You didn't tell him, Echizen?" Fuji tilted his head to the right.

Ryoma shook his head and headed towards the doors of the school. "He never asked."

* * *

As the day progressed on, all of the boys acted the same. It was as if they were pretending that this wasn't the last day that they would be spending together. Not only was Ryoma moving to America, all of the third years were going to be leaving to go to a nice university. It was Kaidou who first realized that this was the last time that they would be getting to see each other. The soft spot in his heart ached not for himself but for everyone else. When Eiji noticed the face that Kaidou made, a face that was covered in concern, he could feel his happiness fading. Almost all at once it seemed that reality had sunk in, and each one of the boys could feel the loneliness setting in.

"Just because we're going to different universities doesn't mean we won't see each other," Eiji looked up at the other third years. "Right?"

"Of course…we'll work around our schedules so we can still spend time with each other," Oishi nodded.

"We'll come visit those who will be third years as well," there was a rare uncertainty in Tezuka's voice.

Ryoma stood and turned away from the group. He began to walk away. "I'm going to get something to drink."

"Hey, we'll have to make sure we go see Echizen too," Momoshiro said loud enough so the younger boy could here. "Like during our next break or something."

The boy stopped and pulled at his cap. "Mada mada dane."

"Aw, but I don't know English!" Eiji slightly pouted.

"That will just give us a reason to spend all our time there with Echizen," Fuji opened his eyes to show them glowing with a light blue color. "Of course, I wouldn't think about spending my time with anyone else."

For the rest of the day, they continued to spend as much time as they could with each other. When the sun began to sink from the sky, they had decided it was best if they went home. Eiji was nearly in tears as he watched Ryoma walk off with Fuji. As Ryoma made his way down the sidewalk, everyone knew it would be the last time they would see him for a rather long time.

* * *

Outside the Echizen residence, Fuji stood with Ryoma clutching his hand. The wind blew lightly making their hair messy.

"You should get home," Ryoma avoided the older boy's gaze.

"Echizen, are you mad at me?" Fuji questioned.

He let his head fall to the right and frowned. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"I won't be able to see you off tomorrow."

"And I won't be able to see your graduation ceremony. There…we're even."

Fuji nodded and reached his arm up. He lightly placed his hand under Ryoma's chin and let their lips brush together. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

"How can you be so optimistic at a time like this?" Ryoma stared into Fuji's icy blue eyes. "I don't understand you, senpai."

"Call me as soon as you can when you get to America."

"You do realize that we'll be almost at the opposite time, don't you?"

Fuji bent down slightly so he was face to face with Ryoma. "It doesn't matter. I'll always pick up the phone for you."

"Fuji-senpai…" Ryoma's cheeks began to glow the color red. "Take care of Karupin…"

"I will."

"You should get home…"

"You've already told me that."

"I know," he touched his hand to the door of the house. "I should get inside."

"We'll figure out a way to make this all work out. I promise," Fuji waited until Ryoma was inside the house and then walked off towards his own.

* * *

The next day came way too soon. The third years stood there at their graduation ceremony. Even though they were graduating, they all were thinking about Ryoma. If they could have, they would have ran out that very moment to be with him as he departed.

At the airport, Ryoma looked through a rack of magazines. He grabbed a few about tennis and found one that was dedicated to photography. Picking it up, he piled it with the other magazines he had already decided to get. Looking around, he took a few snack items and proceeded to buy his items. Meeting up with his parents, he tugged at his hat and walked into the terminal where they would board the plane. With each step he took, he heart continued to sink more and more.

When he got onto the plane, he noticed that he was not sitting with his parents. Ryoma didn't really mind seeming that it was his father that put him in this situation in the first place. Trying to find his seat, he nearly tripped because a rather plump man had his leg out in the isle. Continuing his way down, he spotted his seat. Somehow, he felt that he was lucky for getting the window seat. Ryoma opened the magazine about photography and began to read all these things he didn't understand. The only real reason he wanted such a thing was to remind him of Fuji. Leaving the magazine open on his lap, Ryoma stared out the window. A gentleman sat down next to him, but the younger boy didn't even look over at him.

"Excuse me, before we take off, would you close the window's cover?" the person next to him wondered. "It makes me slightly nervous being able to see out."

"Sure," Ryoma pulled the off-white cover down over the window and returned to the magazine he had started to read.

"Oh, could you also do me one more favor?"

"What is it?" he looked up at the man. His eyes filled with shock as he noticed who was sitting next to him.

"Do you think you could tell me the reason to how you got the courage to tell me your feelings in the first place?"

"What are you doing here, Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma's voice showed more anger than happiness. "You should be at your graduation ceremony."

"I wanted to see the university I would be going to," Fuji smiled as he pointed at what Ryoma had in his lap. "You'll let me read that after you're done, right?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was accepted into a university in America. I thought you'd be happy…maybe I was wrong."

"I…" he paused and bit his lower lip. "Fuji-senpai…did you do this just for me?"

"Well, kind of. The school that I'll be going to is very nice though."

Ryoma leaned his head against the window. "I think I might love you."

"I see," Fuji bent over and kissed the younger boy. "I think I might love you too."

As the plane began to take off, Fuji once again asked Ryoma for the reason why he was able to get enough courage to tell him how he truly felt.

Leaning back in his seat, a rather cocky smile grew on his face. "It was a bet. That Horio didn't think I was capable of liking anything other than tennis. I proved him wrong."

"It seems to be that way," Fuji giggled.

"Though, he was right about my mom being the only woman in my life," he turned and scanned Fuji. "Well, Fuji-senpai is close enough to a girl."

Fuji took the magazine off of Ryoma's lap and lightly tapped the boy on the head with it. "Just so you know, you'll have to help me with my English."

"Mada mada dane…"

_FINISH._

**NOTE:**** Right…so this was a much needed update. Though, I thought I was going to make this two more chapters long. I wasn't able to do it though because I forgot what I had planned (if I had plans) for in between the last chapter and this one. Oh well. This was the end and now it is finished.**

**Sorry that it took so long to update. November was a busy month for me. I took on the NaNoWriMo challenge. If you don't know what that is, it where you write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I did this because, well, I want to be a novelist. I finished, and I was very happy about that. I do wonder if people would read my actual stories though. I seem to be doing okay with the people on this website, but I don't know if anyone would like the things I write with my own characters. I hope people will pick up my novel if I ever get published.**

**I rambled about nothing again, sorry. I have a lot more to update with my other fics. I need to finish the first chapter of "Without Sight" so I can get my next FujiXRyoma fic up. I have to go to dinner with my family tomorrow though…and the next day my mom's getting married. Thank goodness that's just one of those go to the court type marriages!**

**I left the ending kind of open because I'm lame and I fail like that. Could I make a sequel to this fic? Sure I could. Will I? Probably not!**

**Before I go I'd like to mention one thing. For those who read this little note the days after I post the chapter, I'm sorry if none of my notes make sense. They're really just here to tell you about random things that happen in my life and odd things that no one really cares about.**

**Well, this was the end of "One Month Left"! If anyone else can name the other fic of mine that takes place within one month, I will…I don't know…write a fic dedicated to you or something.**

**Thank you for reading this all the way through. I hope you've enjoyed it!**

**(Also, "The Fallen Prince" will be reworked in the near future. If you're a fan of that fic, look for that in the months to come!)**


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